Forget Not All His Benefits

John Piper

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Reading the Bible Supernaturally.

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me,
bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits.

The Expansive Movement of Worship

That's the way the psalm begins—David prodding himself and
prompting and urging himself and stirring himself up to bless the
Lord. To bless means to say good things about the Lord in a spirit
of admiration and gratitude and wonder. So David prods himself:
Bless the Lord, soul; remember his benefits, speak of his wonders,
tell of his greatness.

Then, after two verses of self-prodding, follow 17
reasons for blessing the Lord from verses 3–19—17
"benefits" that David has not forgotten, things about God that he
cherishes and that make his soul bless the Lord.

And when he comes to the end of the list in verse 19, he can no
longer settle for just calling his own soul to bless the Lord. He
has remembered so much of God that he can't be satisfied until all
the angels and all the works of creation join him in blessing the
Lord. Verse 20ff.:

Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his
word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord all his
hosts, his ministers that do his will! Bless the Lord, all his
works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my
soul!

God's Initiative to Reveal Himself

There is something about worship that is very expansive. There
are impulses in it that want to be ever widening and stretching and
swelling and increasing and enlarging and snowballing. It begins
with God's initiative: he reveals who he is and what he is like
(sometimes like the explosion of Mount Pinatubo blowing rocks
98,000 feet into the sky over Luzon; sometimes like a hen gathering
tiny yellow chicks under her wing).

Spiritual Perception and Partial Response

And then, by the grace of God, we see the revelation of his
glory. We see it in past benefits and wonders. We see it in present
mercies. We see it in future promises. But there is always a sense
of shortfall between our spiritual perception of the greatness of
God and our spiritual affection in worshiping God. The intensity
of the heart never seems up to what his glory deserves.

Prodding Our Souls to Worship

That's why one of the most common impulses of genuine worship is
to plead with your own soul: "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" Come on,
soul, where are you? Why do you sleep before this God? Why are you
dull and sluggish? Wake up! Look at what God has done! Look at what
he is like!

We feel like part of us sees and begins to feel and respond to
the greatness of God's holiness. But part of us doesn't. So we
preach to ourselves, "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is
within me, bless his holy name." All that is within me. Not just
part of me. Genuine worship is almost always conscious that our
response to God is only partial. "All that is within us"—every
fiber of our being—is not blessing God.

But the very recognition of this shortcoming is worship—our
sense of discontent that our soul isn't fully kicking-in signals
how great the worth of God really is. Otherwise we wouldn't be
pressing for a deeper response. And crying out against the
shortcoming of our soul, like David does, is even more worship.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me—not just
some of me, not just half my heart, not just half my energy, not
just half my mind, but all that is within me—bless his holy
name."

Calling All Creation to Join Us in Worship

But the expansive impulse of worship doesn't stop there. We want
worship to expand and take over all of our being—"all that is
within me, bless his holy name!" But we want more than that. When
you have really seen the greatness of God, and you know that there
is only one God over all the world and all the universe, the
impulse of worship expands to say (v. 20), "Bless the Lord, you his
angels, you mighty ones who do his word . . . (v. 22) bless the
Lord all his works, in all places of his dominion."

In other words, it's not enough for everything in us to bless
the Lord. We want everything in the universe to bless the Lord. The
joy of worship is expansive. Our joy in blessing God increases as
more and more of God's creation joins us in blessing the Lord. This
is what the universe was made for—God created us for his glory
(Isaiah 43:7); he chose us for his name's sake (Jeremiah 13:11); he
saved us for his everlasting praise (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

So worship moves, with its expansive impulse, from God's
initiative to reveal himself, to our spiritual perception of his
glory and partial response, to our prodding and urging our own
souls to bless him, to our calling all creation to join us in
praise.

The History of Our Church

That is what this room has been dedicated to for 106 years here,
and what we look back on with tremendous gratitude and wonder here
today. On June 22, 1871, 22 members of First Baptist Church were
granted letters of transfer to start the new First Swedish Baptist
Church of Minneapolis. That body of believers has been sustained
without break or division for 120 years. Those of us who belong by
covenant commitment to the body of Christ at Bethlehem are part of
that church. So I don't want to say "they" did this or that, but
rather "we" did this or that.

When Bethlehem Began, the World Was Different

We built our first building on the corner of 12th Avenue and 6th
Street (where the Douglas Company is now) and dedicated it in
March 1874. Eleven years later on March 6, 1885, that new building
was destroyed by fire. But less than two months later, May 1, 1885,
we purchased this building for $13,500 from the Second
Congregational Church. So for 106 years we have been
worshiping—blessing the Lord—in this sanctuary.

What makes the continuity in worship so remarkable, so worthy of
wonder and thanks to God, is that the 120 years between the
founding of this church and today have been the decades of greatest
change in human history. When Bethlehem began, there were no
computers, no lasers, no atomic power, no radar, no space travel,
no planes, no cars, no video cassettes or tape cassettes, no
television, no radio, no telephone, no movies, no fiberglass or
nylon or steel, no automatic toasters or electric dishwashers or
clothes washers or refrigerators or vacuum cleaners or light bulbs.
It was literally another world.

One Thing Has Remained the Same

But one thing has remained the same, and that is what this psalm
is about. God remains the same. Verses 15–18:

15) As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a
flower of the field; 16) for the wind passes over it, and it is
gone, and its place knows it no more.

17) But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to
children's children, 18) to those who keep his covenant and
remember to do his commandments.

The steadfast love of the Lord has been the same through all the
changes of the last 120 years. For 5,514 Sundays (give or take a
Sunday) God has met his people here and he has always been the
same—before and after the electric light, before and after the
car, before and after the radio and the television and the sound
system and the computer.

"The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting and his righteousness to children's children." One of
the 22 founding members of this church was August Malmsten. A
little more than a week ago we buried his son, Wyman Malmsten. But
Wyman's daughter Marlys and his granddaughter Alice are still among
us. This is just one example of the generations that have been
continuous at Bethlehem. His righteousness to children's
children—to those who keep his covenant—is everlasting.

So for 106 years God has met us in this sanctuary and we have
blessed his holy name in worship. And he in turn has done some
wonderful things among us.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

Remembering Some of God's Benefits

I want us to draw the service to a close this morning by
remembering some of his benefits. God has worked here in this room
in tens of thousands of ways over the last 106 years. I think this psalm is calling us, as we leave, to thank him for the work he has
completed and to ask his blessing on the work he has begun. A lot
of what has begun in this room is still in process all over the
world.

I would like to have people stand who experienced the work of
God in the following ways.

1. Worship

"Bless the Lord, O my soul."

All stand because you are here this morning. Sit if you have
been attending less than five years. Sit if you started coming to
Bethlehem in the last ten years . . . 20 years . . . 30 years .
. . 40 years . . . 50 years . . . 60 years.

Pray: "But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting upon those who fear him." Thanks for the work done and
bless the work to be done.

2. Conversion and Baptism

Verse 2: "Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity . .
. (v. 10) He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor
requite us according to our iniquities."

If you became a Christian or were baptized while attending
Bethlehem, or if you became a Christian through the influence of
someone who was attending Bethlehem, please stand.

Pray: "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he
remove our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children,
so the Lord pities those who fear him" (vv. 12–13). Thanks for the
work done and bless the work to be done.

3. Life Changing Direction

Life changing direction from the Lord received through the
influence of worship and the Word in this room. Verse 7: "He made
known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people
of Israel."

Pray: Thanks for the work done and bless the work to be
done.

4. Marriage and Children

Verse 5: "He satisfies you with good
as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the
eagle's." For some the good that God gives has included marriage
and children. For others the good that he gives is the single life.
But this room has been the place of many marriage commitments and
many dedications of children. If you were married in this room or
in the chapel, please stand. And if you have dedicated children to
the Lord here, please stand.

Pray: "The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting upon those who fear him and his righteousness to
children's children" (v. 17). Thanks for the work done and bless
the work to be done.

God's Sovereign Reign: Past, Present, and Future

And so we come to the end of an era—106 years of blessing the
Lord in this sanctuary. But there is a truth that has grasped our
lives at Bethlehem that makes us know beyond any doubt that we are
not finished blessing God, nor will we every be finished. The truth
is found in verse 19:

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his
kingdom rules over all.

God's reign is sovereign over all the past, all the present, all
the future, all the building, all the planning, all the worship and
conversions and life decisions and marriages and births and deaths
and dreams. And therefore he cannot fail in his purpose that every
knee in heaven or on earth or under the earth will bow and every
tongue confess his Son as Lord of all to the glory of God's
sovereign reign over all things.

He is not yet done with us. There is a new chapter opening for
us, and God is the greatest, most exciting author in the
universe.

As we sing "O God Our Help in Ages Past," let us renew our
submission to his sovereign grace.